LibriVox recording of Phaedo, by Plato.

Read by Bob Neufeld.


Plato's Phaedo is one of the great dialogues of his middle period, along with the Republic and the Symposium. The Phaedo, which depicts the death of Socrates, is also Plato's seventh and last dialogue to detail the philosopher's final days (the first six being Theaetetus, Euthyphro, Sophist, Statesman, Apology, and Crito).

In the dialogue, Socrates discusses the nature of the afterlife on his last day before being executed by drinking hemlock. Socrates has been imprisoned and sentenced to death by an Athenian jury for not believing in the gods of the state and for corrupting the youth of the city. The dialogue is told from the perspective of one of Socrates' students, Phaedo of Elis. Having been present at Socrates' death bed, Phaedo relates the dialogue from that day to Echecrates, a fellow philosopher. By engaging in dialectic with a group of Socrates' friends, including the Thebans Cebes and Simmias, Socrates explores various arguments for the soul's immortality in order to show that there is an afterlife in which the soul will dwell following death. Phaedo tells the story that following the discussion, he and the others were there to witness the death of Socrates. Source - Wikipedia



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M4B format available


This audio is part of the collection: The LibriVox Free Audiobook Collection
It also belongs to collections: Audio Books & Poetry; Community Audio

Artist/Composer: Plato
Date: 2011-05-02
Source: Librivox recording of a public-domain text
Keywords: librivox; literature; audiobook; Ancient Texts; Classics (antiquity); History

Creative Commons license: Public Domain Mark 1.0

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Reviewer: sbw1953 - - September 29, 2012
Subject: An Instant Classic
Henry Aristippus first translated Plato's Phaedo from the Greek to Latin in AD 1160; and Benjamin Jowett translated it from the Latin to English in 1871.

But not since Socrates spoke the words himself, have his words been given such life.

Mr. Neufeld gives an excellent reading. The tempo of the dialog, the voice inflections of all who were present with Socrates, makes it a pleasure to listen to.

I give it 5 stars.